Former All-Ireland winning captain Kieran McGeeney has been strongly backed by his players to be reinstated as Lilywhites boss.

The Armagh man had lost a vote on Tuesday night removing him from his post after a six-year reign in charge of the Lilywhites.

A statement was released by the Kildare players saying their ultimate wish is that McGeeney is put back in charge.

The statment said: "The current County Board has been shown up to be dysfunctional and lacking in both leadership and unity."

""The players feel that our County Board has let us down greatly throughout this process and our manager has been treated with a complete lack of respect and loyalty following his six years at the helm. Kieran’s reputation was frequently impugned at times by comments made over the past few weeks."

Even though the players have vented their frustration, they haven't threatened not to play.

The statement also said: ""We believe that the County Board Management Committee should have used the powers available to them to reappoint Kieran McGeeney as senior football team manager for 2014 in accordance with their own wishes and those of the players.

"In not doing so they abdicated their responsibility and must accept much of the blame for the situation that the county now finds itself in."

"Our ultimate wish is that last Tuesday night’s decision is overturned and that negotiations are immediately opened with Kieran McGeeney to reinstate him and his management team for 2014.

"Tuesday’s decision and the process followed has left us angered and we will be submitting our recommendations to the County Board in the next two weeks on how this process should be structured in the future.

"We expect a fair consultation process will be conducted with all parties.

"We don’t believe that this is unprecedented nor do we think it is unreasonable."

On Tuesday, Kildare's captain in 2013, Naas player Eamonn Callaghan, tweeted: "I've never been ashamed in my life to be a Kildare footballer, until tonight!! #gutted."

The Kildare County board had counted a vote of 29-28 in favour of not extending McGeeney's charge for one more year.

The Lilywhites won two O’Byrne Cup titles and a Division 2 National League during his reign.

Kildare made it to five All-Ireland quarter finals and one semi-final during his term in charge.